musings of a Vampire Sex God 2
by Yygriega
Summary: (Blood Rites) Ambrose Raith must solve a rash of strange deaths, strange disappearances, and keep his father and older sisters from murdering him. Someone is trying to dethrone his father, and everyone is blaming Ambrose. WARNING ADULT THEMES: there are three romance scenes. please be mature and not read if you don't like romance scenes.


The Musings of a Vampire Sex God:

Family Feud

(BLOOD RITES)

Chapter One

Passion: it's a many splendor thing. I was entertaining a moment of passion at the moment. I grabbed the leggy vampire by the throat, locked eyes with her, and then threw her onto my desk. Her knees parted once I hiked up the red pencil skirt, and I couldn't help but notice she had a garter belt holding up her stockings, and a black lacy thong. I didn't want to bother with removing them, and thongs are such insignificant undergarments anyhow so I just pulled them to the side and fondled her pierced sex. Her knees buckled, and I pulled her white blouse open, hearing buttons bounce on the floor. Her bra was a black lacy insignificant thing too; one of those shelf bras that amount to underwire and straps with little else covering the breasts themselves.

I rubbed against her for a while to let the lusty anticipation increase then let go of her to undo my pants. I grabbed her by the jaw and forced her face to look into my eyes as I entered her. She opened her sexy red mouth, and flared her narrow nostrils, catching light on the diamond in the left one. The Marylyn Monroe piercing did the same. Her silver blue eyes fluttered under the heavy but elegant black eye makeup and long lashes, then they turned reflective silver. Mine did the same, going from the purple-gray of storm clouds to silver. This wasn't sex, though it looked and felt like it, this was a struggle for power, and I was winning.

As we moved in this dance for dominance, playing our pleasure game against one and other, she gripped the desk so tight, it made a creaking protest. I was glistening with sweat when the door opened and Fazia nearly entered the room with Murphy in toe. She quickly closed the door. The woman on the desk clenched everything and convulsed, and absolutely drenched my desk. I pulled a towel out of one of my file cabinets and helped dry her off, then cleaned my desk.

"Oh, my… I noticed you actually seemed embarrassed when you saw that blond one." Elisa said, returning my towel.

"I would have preferred she hadn't seen that." I answered her as I sat back in my office chair.

"You didn't come." She said, fondling my diminishing bulge. I slapped her hand away.

"You didn't deserve it." I grumbled. "Go on, get." I said, nodding to the door. She didn't bother buttoning the few surviving buttons on her blouse, but she closed it, best she could before leaving. She stopped in the doorway as Fazia held it open for her and turned to Lt Murphy.

"Hello, I'm Elisa Raith." She extended a hand and Murphy took it, reluctantly, not sure what was on it.

"None of your business!" I answered for Murphy before she sneakily wiped her hand off on her pants by 'missing' her pocket before sticking her hand in. Murphy understood not to give magic folks her name so she didn't speak and just entered my office.

"Charmed." Elisa responded. She looked like a pin up girl with piercings and a full back tattoo of floral lace and corset lacings. She had rings up the tattoo as well so I'm sure she actually tied her back up like a corset from time to time. There were two hidden skulls among the floral print, and something written in Etruscan, I could barely make out, though this was the first time I'd noticed and it was moving, so I had an excuse. Murphy sported a new hair cut. It was a short wedge like Elisa's but Elisa let it be longer on the right side than the left, and it waived perfectly over one eye. Murphy's was curly but perfectly in place, even, and out of her face. Murphy watched Elisa swish her hips away in her tall white pumps then came in to talk to me.

Fazia was Arabian, but wasn't what one would consider attractive. She was butch, tall, muscular, and despite her adequate bust and long hair, looked less like a woman than a weapon. I made her head of my security, and as such she was the final authority on who entered and left the property. I nodded darkly at her, so Fazia closed the door behind herself while Murphy gave her a thankful smile.

"You're brooding now?" Murphy asked me. Over the years we had become quite aware of each other's personalities. I shrugged, she snorted. "Is it because Susan broke up with you?"

"One has to date in order to break up." I pointed out to her as I sat in my comfy rolling desk chair. "We were merely two consenting adults enjoying a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship. I fed on her, and she was regaled with tales of warlocks, werewolves, fairies, knights, and the real ghost busters." I kicked my feet up on the desk and Murphy looked around the room like the furniture was dripping with excrement. "Relax, we didn't do it on the chairs, you're safe."

"All the same, I'd rather stand. I'm not staying in any case. I'm investigating a series of seemingly unrelated freak accidents and also a vanishing spree of vagrants and street girls over by Cabrini Green." Murphy said, crossing her arms.

"I get it. The mysterious deaths all work for me, don't they?" I asked.

"They all work for Arturo Genosa, who started his own studio after LEAVING your company."

"After leaving Silverlight Greater, that is. MY company is Silverlight Chicago, and I happen to be bankrolling Arturo at the behest of my big brother." I said, getting out of my seat to stand closer to her. She retreated into a reactionary distance, and then continued.

"Well the other vanishings have left no witnesses, no evidence, nothing. I was hoping you could do a scrying on one of the victims, help me find something."

"Listen to you. Reading up on magic?"

"Vying for independence from you. The department is starting to notice our connotation. I don't want them to get the wrong idea."

"I'm hurt. You don't want people to think you're consorting with the big bad vampire."

"I don't want my boss to think I'm another consort of the vampire's." Murphy retorted, eyeing the desk then moving so the armchair came between us. I smirked.

"I would love to help you, really I would, but I have an investment to oversee and I just acquired a new pet to train."

"Elisa?" Murphy asked in disgust.

I barked out a hearty laugh. "No Elisa is a higher up in Silverlight Greater. She was here to force me to give up bank rolling Arturo." I paced unhurried around the chair to her side, and she moved with faux leisure to put the other chair between us.

I whistled and seconds later there was a scratch at one of the side doors to my day room and a light skinned Middle Eastern woman with auburn hair and hazel eyes opened the door so a puppy could bounce into the office. Adra wore a gold bikini and clunky jewelry with a white with gold coins and beads gipsy scarf around her waist. A similarly beaded anklet jingled as she chased after the pup. "The puppy is my new pet." I answered as I palmed the puppy a treat from a jar on my desk and let him sniff around the detective. Murphy caught the pup and passed it to Adra. "Thank you Adra, he can go now." She looked exasperated but complied. Adra looked unique, and was lovely, but was diseased, so I couldn't let her work in the sex trade. Her lady parts were mutilated, and she got anxiety in crowds so I kept her as a sort of maid.

"It's like the God damned Playboy mansion in here." Murphy grumbled.

"I do need to keep up appearances." I agreed. "If you want to investigate me, I can not allow you to be caught by any of my superiors. You do understand this." Murphy nodded reluctantly. "So I expect you will need a cover. The film is already cast so I suppose you might be passable as a production's assistant."

"Uh…"

"A go-fer."

"Ah… I guess if I must." She said cautiously, continuing our slow motion chase around the furniture.

"Report here by 11 tomorrow." I wrote the address and smiled at her, holding the paper close to my chest. She took the paper from as far away as she could, but I grabbed her and pulled her in for a peck on the cheek, which burned my lips.

"What was that?" she asked concerned about the burns.

"Love hurts." I said. I laughed. "When a person commits an act of true love, they get a protection around them… things like me, get burned by it." I explained. "The last person you ever… slept with was your ex?"

"Yeah." She blushed.

"And you're still in love…" I said almost heartbroken.

She scoffed. "I'm still stupid yeah." She walked to the door but I leaned on it so she couldn't leave. She blew out an exasperated breath then nodded. "He moved to New Orleans to join the FBI. The plan was once I found a detective position near by, I'd move out there or he could try to get transferred or exchanged back to Chicago. I was reluctant to just throw everything I worked so hard for away and move at the drop of a hat like that." She blinked back tears. "So I decide to surprise him. I go to visit during Mardi Gras, got something sexy on under my coat, some champagne and the whole nine yards right? I caught him in bed… with my sister." She nodded.

"Bummer. I can feel how pent up you are, I was hoping to tap into some of that energy." I remarked insensitively on purpose. I hated watching women cry and it was a bit harder to charm Karen into anything. She was confrontational so the best way to cheer her up was give her something to hit me for.

"You wont ever get to tap this!" Murphy poked me in the chest and made her exit.

Chapter Two

When she showed up to the warehouse converted into a sound stage, I was a bit surprised. She dismounted her Harley and put away her cool helmet inside the back satchels then tucked the leather protective jacket in after it. She wore khaki shorts, black running shoes with neon pink laces, and a light pink polo shirt. Her hair was pulled back on the top of her head into a bouncy little pony tail of her lighter sun kissed hair the rest was only about finger length and the dark blond that looks brown when wet. A stray bit of hair was too short for the bun so it was pinned to the side out of her eyes. She smiled brightly and shrugged back on her black backpack with neon pink accents, likely full of cool cop junk. She waived at me, shook my hand, and then graciously accepted the coffee I offered. With a free hand I adjusted my short oval bright adjust glasses that she shook free with the handshake. Other members of the cast and crew had arrived at the same time and might have seen us so she made a character of herself.

"I should have known you'd have a bike."

"Why's that?" she asked.

"All women love bikes. They're like giant vibrators. You're just bad ass enough to get your own." I jested. People rolled up so we put on our acts.

"Thanks for this opportunity, Mr. Raith!" she eyed the coffee then me, then sipped the coffee and made a grateful blissful face.

"No problem kid. Go on inside, go straight until you're in a room with doughnuts." I answered, watching the men approach.

One was older, tan, and laid back, or trying to look that way. The other was a meathead. Arturo arrived last. The rest of the cast was female: beautiful, exotic, and very female. Along with Arturo came my baby sister, Inari. She was a total vegan hippie pain in the ass, but she wore her hair in princess Lea buns, which mildly defused my contempt for her. I held the door for him and walked close behind as we spoke.

"Thank you so much for all the help. You've come so far since we first met, what was it, 9 years ago? Thomas introduced us and begged me to give you a chance, and you really saved me from an awful divorce that I just didn't have the heart to fight for myself. And when he suggested you would be able to break this Molochio..." Genosa said, while letting Inari bustle to get the door for him.

"I'll try. I'm still trying to figure out what the strega would be after. None of this makes sense." I grumbled.

"Thomas believes in you, then I do too. You two, just like your mother, have never let me down." He patted me on the back, and then I walked in the room before him. I slouched in my light grey slacks and blazer over a white silk button up shirt (un-tucked because I'm not a Nazi). The glasses adjusted from the dark tint because of the bright sun to absolute clarity. The gray dress shoes were only slightly darker than my pants, and a silver watch with purple face and metallic purple kerchief protruding from my breast pocket provided the only color in my ensemble. Slouching, hiding behind glasses, and fed well enough to not be a vortex of mortal desire, I figured I'd be able to hide to some extent, but as I entered the room all women instinctively tracked me with their eyes. I sat where I had set up my laptop and some documents I had to work on, and opened my coffee's lid to take a gulp.

Genosa went right up to Murphy and bowed chivalrously. "I don't believe we've met." He offered his hand and Murphy smiled brightly to shake it enthusiastically.

"Stilts brought her. Thought with everything going on lately, she would be of some use assisting me." The dumpy producer Joan explained. Genosa smiled.

"So, you're a friend of Ambrose." He said wit no particular connotation.

"Cute little thing, isn't she? Complete opposite of stilts, brooding over there." Joan teased me as I grumpily shuffled papers, speed reading them over my glasses and scrunching my face up while inputting figures on the computer. I looked up, adjusted the specs then made a playfully angry face. Joan was dumpy, but lively and fun. She could hold her liquor, hold her own in a fight, and hold your head when you were crying over yet another failed marriage, like Genosa did every three years it seemed. He was fluttering around like a damn pixie again, so I knew the cycle would continue. Soon he would wed, maybe be happy for a year, and then break up all over again. As his lawyer, I hoped it would last this time.

For someone worth upwards of 4 million dollars, I was surprised he had a dime left to his name any longer, considering all the prenuptial agreements I'd arranged for him in the past. I had advised him to set up a fund to pay all the alimony's but unfortunately leaving him little to himself, but the fund would be consolidated with the rest of his estate and rolled over to his wife if he were to die while married. The man did have a heart condition. If he died alone as I was sure to, albeit hundreds of years from now, stars willing, all his money would be put in the fund, and split among the exes. "Good, good. There are too many gloomy faces in here. And where is Trixie?" Arturo asked, also not particularly suggesting anything.

"Fashionably late. I'm glad the rest of your crew is so professional. You better head back to the office. It might blow without you." Joan answered Arturo.

"Yes, yes. You're the boss." He laughed. He kissed Karen's hand and left.

"And don't forget your pills." Joan chided him on his way out. Thomas was entering at the moment so he held the door for Arturo and playfully flicked Inari's nose as she passed. Thomas wore white stretchy jeans and a white t-shirt that had red sugar covered lips across the chest and below said 'delicieux' in black. Over that he had a red blazer and wore black combat boots without laces. He tied his hair back, allowing some wayward lazy curls to frame his face, and a few strays to jut out of his sloppy bun. If one didn't know better, he also seemed to be wearing guy liner, but alas he just had that thick of lashes. It really made his silver blue eyes pop.

"Carrie, was it? Come help me assemble these cameras." Joan beckoned. Murphy sat on the floor with Joan and watched her assemble cameras then preceded to do so on her own while Joan went off to fix and fiddle with nonsense. After clamoring to greet my sexy ass brother, the girls swished off to get ready for the shoot.

"Well, I've looked into things as promised." I told my brother as he came close. We were a lot alike in the face, but had different noses. I can only assume I looked like my grandpappy on mother's side, because my brother was the spitting image of our dad. He gave me that Colgate grin.

"Well, what you figure?" he looked at the massive bronze fancy coffee machine and made a legitimate face of approval before approaching it to fix himself a cup. "Is it really a Molochio?"

"Call it an entropy curse. Molochio is just bad luck. This is murder by bad luck. This is a curse, a hex, a spell, which has to be cast in real time. Next time someone is attacked I'll be able to protect them, then hopefully trace or even counter the spell, return to sender as it were." I answered him. "I just don't understand the motive…" I leaned back in my chair and slapped the papers I was working on onto the table.

"What's not to understand? They don't want Arturo to be successful." Thomas shrugged, bringing his coffee over to sit on the table and chat. "Think about it. You and I personally, under false names no less, invest in Arturo's debut away from Silverlight, and suddenly sisters we haven't spoken to in years call us, drop by, infiltrate us… dad is trying something."

"It can't be that simple, this is dad were talking about. He wouldn't go after so obvious a target, nor would he attack directly like this. Lets also not forget, that with all he can do he is still just a vampire. With Mother dead, you and I are the only magical sort in the family. And when I think about a jealous ex I wonder, why not attack him directly. I got us a real detective to help figure things out. I might be too vested in this to see all the clues for what they are. All the victims are women working with him, not dating him or close to him, just random women."

"Ah, that's what's been pissing you off. You still have that quixotic need to rush to a damsel's rescue. Seeing women hurt disgusts you." Thomas sighed exaggeratedly putting one hand on my shoulder. "Bros, you softie."

"I'm also pissed because the family is involved. We've already lost 4 brothers because Pops thought they were going to try a power play on him. And every time one died we mysteriously got super chummy with each other. It's happening again, and I think its because we bet on the wrong porn studio. Look, I don't want the throne, and I really don't want either of us killed over it." I paced over to the table with the food and grabbed a doughnut with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles then a chocolate éclair. I held the pink one close to Murphy who grabbed it with her teeth looking up at me suspiciously, but took the napkin and a good bite and set them aside while she continued her work. She mumbled thanks with her mouth full and I slumped back into my chair.

"Bros, I'm not trying to be king, and I don't want you killed for helping me, but helping Arturo is the right thing to do." Thomas tried to assure me. He cocked his head then pointed at Murphy. "So… Is that our shamus?" Thomas asked with a perfect eyebrow cocked. My eyebrows weren't so well manicured looking. They had a little bushiness and strays like a normal person. It made me look distinguished and masculine, while Thomas looked like a well-muscled little pretty boy about four inches shorter than me.

"She is ashamed of us." I grumbled grumpily. "She's protected…" I said, adjusting my glasses and continuing to work. Thomas nodded slowly.

"That's good right? Means our kind can't feed on her."

"Also means I cant enthrall her. She's vulnerable against Father. He has better control over feeding than anyone. He can touch her without burning, get into her mind, and do whatever he wants." I heard myself typing, killing each key. I breathed and continued typing softly.

"What is that?" Thomas asked.

"16 of our girls became legal US citizens today. Now I have to prepare 16 personalized resumes, and personalized work referrals for their resumes and approve all their fake legal documents, make sure they coincide with their real legal documents so they can get work or apartments of their own..."

"They're leaving you? After all you've done for them."

"Please. Most of them are intelligent, ambitious, and clever, and all I made them do was look pretty, and sleep around: Its better for them this way. Besides, they're always welcome back if they don't make it." I sent off the approved documentation, and removed my glasses to rub the bridge of my nose. I replaced the glasses then put away all my paperwork, or began to. I felt a slithering, creepy feeling clench my spine, and then looked around to find the source or destination. I felt this three times in my life, and fear threatened to take over my mind. I couldn't let it. I found it's target and raced down the halls followed by Thomas, then Murphy. I burst through three doors, scaring our actors in their dressing room and sliding to a halt in the shower room in time to catch Giselle as she screamed and broke through the window. She was very hot; her flesh was red from the scalding water out of the showerhead.

A light snapped from it's fixture and fell, so I hopped onto the counter with Giselle in my arms and pointed at the live wires and forced the existing electric pulse of a wizard to short out the power. It shut the whole room down, so I was able to lay her on a bench in the changing room. Her throat was cut. I demanded ice and towels, and Murphy called the ambulance. I wrapped her wound with an ice pack and towels, maintaining pressure (trying my healing spell on her without my magical aides) until the EMT arrived. He thanked me. If I hadn't thought about the ice, she would have bled out already. Thomas was clean as ever, but my ensemble was blood stained and soaked through from the shower.

I stood in the dark shower room inspecting the scene, hoping to find residual magic, but all there was left was a taint of malicious intent. I closed off the room and asked for everyone to avoid it for a few hours. Murphy stood near by with a towel and a change of clothes: blue jeans and a white undershirt. I accepted them and began disrobing on the spot. She turned away and cleared her throat. Once I was done changing, I just tossed the clothes in the trash. No point trying to salvage them. I padded bare foot down the hall to my makeshift office and collected my things to toss in the front trunk of my trusty blue beetle. It had a brand new engine, new bumpers, doors, and roof, and was painted a shiny powder blue that looked white and glittered depending on the light. I dug a tackle box of magic items and Nikes out the trunk and slammed it shut and brooded for a while before adjusting my glasses, taking a deep breath, and calmly pacing back to the studio.

"We need to take a break. Everyone be back at three." Joan said shakily, as she collected her coat. I continued to inspect the scene for residual magic using spells now that no one was there to be disturbed by it. Murphy stuck around and crouched by me, just far enough away to be out of my way. I got mad, threw the bundle of herbs whose smoke was supposed to lead me to the source of the spell, and plopped down on my ass in the doorway away from the water. Murphy felt like saying something but didn't know what. She wanted to hold me but wouldn't let herself and didn't know how I'd react so she just sat there being a silent pillar of strength.

I began to clean the scene up, and slammed the door in Murphy's face when she got up to help, then opened it to apologize and ask for a trash bin. After moping up, I took apart some of the shower to fix what went wrong. I mean, there had to be something affected that led to the effect of the spell. Once I was sure things would be safe, I flopped face first onto the hard bed on the set, and buried my face into a plush pink pillow.

"Sorry, I've been upset lately." I mumbled to her through the pillow. Murphy shuffled over to the side of the bed and cautiously sat by me. I put my hand out and she laced her fingers with mine and squeezed.

"Lets hurry up and solve this then. Tell me all about your business with Arturo, I agree with Thomas that this might have something to do with your family too." Murphy asked. I told her everything about my mother being his homeopathic healer for a long time, my brother acting for him a few times, the three divorces I was his lawyer for, and how he was a revolutionary videographer with some impressive new ideas about how the sex industry can influence society. All his articles in magazines like 'Times', his appearances on shows like Oprah, and how Silverlight refused his new ideas so I helped him get out of his contract and Thomas and I co-invested with him and Joan into this new studio. While I explained the last of it Joan returned, crying audibly and went straight for the shower room, then came out found me and threw herself on my back.

"Thank you Ambrose. I didn't realize you were a plumber." She joked half-heartedly.

"I widdle a little too." I said, rolling to my side and extending my arms. Joan smiled painfully and curled up in my arms and reported Giselle's condition.

"Well now we need another blond. Carrie, you want to be an actress, right?" she looked up to Murphy who looked mortified.

"Oh no. No. I can't act my way out a paper sack… I'm not even smart enough to take the thing off instead of trying to impress it." Murph said, standing and backing away.

"She's also very shy." I agreed. "How about we flip the script. Make the brunet the primary, and the blond the fluff. Put Carrie in a long wig, a baby doll, and have her do the innocent parts and the money shot. Provided Bobby can finish this time."

"Be nice to Bobby, he's under a lot of pressure. We all are. And the threesome is with Jack. Please, Carrie, you'd be saving our bacon." Joan pleaded. Murphy scowled at me and surprisingly enough she nodded. I wasn't expecting that. I was going through my own girls in my head, trying to remember if any of them were blond. None of them were from countries where they had natural blonds but some of them were in fact blond at the moment. Murphy agreed and admittedly, I wanted her to.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're an Angel." Joan kissed her cheek and dashed to where she kept the wardrobe stuff.

"I'm gonna be found out, fired, killed, humiliated, and fired!" Murphy cried into her hands. Her ears were bright red. Joan rushed back with a fist full of pink white and yellow lacy stuff, and a blond wig. Karen reluctantly followed Joan, and I sought out my brother.

Thomas was in the break room with his hands flat on the table just looking at them. I walked in quietly and waited. "Whoever is responsible…" he stopped as his voice broke. "I'll drain them until they're nothing but a husk." He whispered angrily. I nodded then put my hand on the table by his. He touched it then straightened himself out. "I'll call Arturo, and change the script. In the mean time we can cut out the 3-some scene."

"No need. My cop friend is filling in for Giselle, but she's a porn virgin so we will still have to change the rest of the script." I answered him. We talked to Genosa, who was too broken up to write and he let us handle it. Then Murphy came in with a wooly robe on over her costume. Her wig was hip length, bone straight, and matched her bangs seamlessly. No one would know it was a wig. She looked away bashfully, an expression that went with the pink bows in her hair well, then flashed us her costume for approval. She had a baby doll top that was white with candy pink ribbon details and lace trim. She had a white g-string that used the pink ribbon as the top string, tied in a bow on each hip for easy removal. White opaque stockings came all the way up to her bikini line, and red pleather pumps completed the ensemble. There was so much makeup and long fake brown eyelashes, I hardly recognized her.

"Wow. I'm in a much better mood now." I remarked.

"She took a bunch of pictures! I'm gonna get caught, why am I doing this?"

"To solve a serial murder. Now listen, because we only have time to go over this twice. Carrie, you are going to be the third wheel in a threesome. Emma is going to open the door and flirt with Jack, you sit there and look into him, then he'll come sit by you. Grope him, rub his chest, and kiss him. Now stage kissing is a bit different. Say 'I love to lie lazily on the lounge. I like to lick a lemon lollipop.' Over exaggerate the l's we want to see tong, but don't unhinge your jaw and lick him, you dig?" Murphy nodded with a sick face. "Emma is going to take her top off, do the same, then Jack is going to take his shirt off. Lay him down, kiss him while Emma blows him, then he will take your panties off and put you on his face. You have to really look like you're enjoying yourself, okay?" she made a more sour face then nodded again.

"Then he's going to get up, throw Emma down, and start doing her, just stay out the way of the camera, and play with Emma's breasts, kiss her neck, rub her clit, that sort of thing." Thomas suggested. I held my hand out as a 'what he said' gesture, then my phone rang.

"Natalie is calling." I said to Thomas like it meant something. "Eto priyatno slyshat' vash golos." I greeted her warmly. She asked me to liberate a couple Russian girls; a set of twins. I responded in Russian, saying I couldn't at the moment but in three weeks I'd be able to come myself. Natalie said she appreciated it but the smuggling wasn't the issue, she needed a place to tuck them and papers for them. I let her know I could have them done in a week but I had to go. She told me she was on her way to the airport in Moscow right now. Taken aback, I bid her a good night and got back to Murphy.

"How many languages do you speak?" she asked.

"Etruscan, Latin, Italian, French, Pashto, Dari, Arabic," I counted on my fingers, "Nepali, Hindi, Urdu, Chinese, Russian, Korean, and Spanish." I ran out of fingers… "Though when you think about it that's really only 5 different languages with regional dialects and region specific slang and proper nouns. I was raised in English, Etruscan and Latin, learned French, Sign Language, and Spanish in school, but the rest I learned from prostitutes, the women I smuggled into the states. Its far less impressive when you think about it like that." I smiled charmingly at her.

"And you can dance, and sing, and play guitar. Am I missing anything else?" she said like a country club snob.

"Fencing, horseback riding, and impeccable breeding." I said in the same sort of voice.

"There, you are Carrie. What did you want your performance name to be?" Joan asked rushing in ahead of the others. Arturo came in with Jack and the other girls followed by Bobby consoling an obnoxiously distraught Inari.

"Call her Gilda Lollypop." I suggested, just to be kicked in the shin by the tiny blond. After some thought, Murphy couldn't think of anything better so she allowed it. I went over the revisions with everyone then let them begin while I sat and spoke to Arturo. I reported what little I had, then a fiery redhead stormed in like she owned the place. "Trixie." I greeted through a fake smile of bared teeth.

"Oh! Ambrose. Fruit of the gods." She twirled some of her hair with her fingers and gave me a lusty look. Soon she snapped out of her stupor, or at least this particular one to demand, "What is SHE doing here?"

"I was down an actress, and didn't realize Ambrose had one handy. But she came on such short notice I will use her. Don't worry, she will not be on the cover, and the other girl will be under you on the lineup." Arturo explained.

"AMBROSE brought a new girl too?" she whipped her head back to me.

"Uh, who is she so mad about?" I asked cautiously.

"Me." A familiar and haunting voice cooed. Her voice tasted like honey, felt like velvet, and could be heard by a man's libido well before his ears. I fought the hypnotizing effects before turning and greeting her. "Baby Bros, how lovely that you are here. I trust you are well?"

"Sister. You look lovely as always. I thought you retired. You are of that age, as much as you don't look it." I kissed her hand, lingering reluctant to let it go. She smirked then swished over to stand by Trixie, juxtaposing the drastic difference in leagues each woman was in. Next to Lara, if she was the 10, even the beautiful buxom Trixie was a 4 at best. On a standard scale of 1 to 10, Lara would be some 3-digit number. Trixie harrumphed and stormed out.

"I had a chat with Elisa this morning, she didn't seem well so I planned on visiting soon any how. When Arturo told me about Giselle I rushed over to be here for him. Did you take your medication yet by the way? Joan would kill me if I let you forget." Arturo nodded then he and Lara left. I went to the stage to watch Murphy's porn debut. She was actually quite cool under pressure. Murphy did just as Thomas instructed until Joan yelled cut.

"Great job Gilda!" Joan cheered. "And you're done. Lara is going to fill in for the rest of Giselle's roles." Murphy hadn't had the chance to see Lara. Now she was seeing a whole lot of her. There was a black lace bra with straps that connected it to panties like a monokini. With that she wore tall black boots with heels that came to a point small enough to use as a wall tack. The backs of the boots laced up too. Lara smiled and greeted Murphy then got onto the stage for her scene.

"Come, on, I need some air." I said to Murphy passing her a wet towel, guiding her out the back door. Once we were outside we dropped our acts. I stood up straight, removed the glasses, and Karen stopped being energetic and innocent. "Figure out anything?"

"Hard to say. I think the three exes have the most to gain. Like you told me before, he's getting remarried, and that means they can lose the money. Add another woman in the picture?" she said shaking her head. "I wasn't thrilled to hear when either of my exes moved on. Tell me more about Trixie."

"She has motive, I'll give you that, but she's a drug addict, and wasn't all that smart even before perma-frying her brain. I also make a point to shake hands with everyone I meet, and none of them are magic users." I answered.

"Are there any players in this game you haven't met yet?" I was about to answer but something came over me and I knew the spell was coming in again. Crap I didn't have my things; I needed some chalk and a mirror. I realized the target was Murphy! But why? I grabbed Murphy's right hand with my left, and then another feeling arose, and I knew it meant something unnatural was around. When the curse hit Murphy, I channeled it from her through me, then focused on the second presence and threw the curse at them. Next thing I knew, three black court vampires are rushing from the darkness toward us, but one was taken out right away by a falling frozen turkey.

Lets just sit back and appreciate this moment a while.

Thomas burst through the door, and slid to a halt facing the vampires. "It's a funny coincidence isn't it?" I asked him. Both our eyes turned reflective white with no pupils to be seen, our flesh tightened and our bones looked sharper than usual. Our skin glowed from reflecting the street light, and our fingers seemed more like claws than before. Murphy backed away from me then looked back at the two remaining vampires.

Their skin was pale, teeth yellow and brown, and hair stringy black. They looked starved, and sick, but that was whatever level of decay they were at. They were the truly undead. Murphy patted her hip looking for a sidearm under her robe absent mindedly, then took a martial stance. One black court vampire lunged at her but I intercepted with a palm to the jaw, followed by grabbing his face and slamming it into the brick wall of the building. The other one came for Thomas, who Spartan kicked it in the knee and right hooked him into a spin. After bashing my vampire into a pulp, I grabbed Murphy and cut through the building to the front parking lot. Thomas got into the car shortly after me, and I sped my blue beetle back home.

I slowed as I approached my driveway. There was a limo and two sedans in front. Dad's limo. He stood in the garden, snipping roses, waiting. I stopped, called Fazia to come escort Murphy to my room quickly, and then Thomas and I got out to speak with father.

"My only sons. Such a beautiful night." He smiled. His eyes always looked angry, even when he smiled. They looked starved and crazy. "Oh, my, what happened to you boys? I smell blood and rot."

"Black Court Vampires tried to kill me tonight. Thomas and I took care of them, but they're young. I'll track down the nest and exterminate them tomorrow night." I answered.

"Good. We can't allow vermin on our territories. It would look unprofessional." He continued, eyeing our attire. He wore a crisp perfect white tailored suit with red kerchief and a lot of chest visible from his top three buttons being unbuttoned. He looked like the cover of a romance novel, but without the Fabio hair.

"I understand sir."

"Have you heard from your sisters?"

"We saw Lara, Elisa, and Inari just this morning." Thomas answered.

"Yes, the girls seem to share your interest in revolutionizing the industry with Genosa." He said spitefully.

"Adult entertainment has lost it's zaz lately. Were just interested in new concepts to keep things fresh. Like trying the bionic seahorse with an old partner." Thomas defended.

"Just be careful boys. If this movie flops, it will drag down the family name."

"But if it succeeds it will draw interest and loyalty away from the family. I have some marketing ladies on it. If the movie sinks we had nothing to do with it, if it soars, our name will be bigger than the title on it, sir." I answered Father. He smiled then nodded and patted our arms.

"Go rest. You've had a long night." He said in a tone that didn't quite note fatherly concern.

I startled Murphy as I entered my room, she was pacing by the fire. "Crap, crap, crap." I said to myself rubbing my face. I picked up the phone and dialed the only person I knew for sure had a degree in killing vampires and asked him the soonest he could be here to exterminate my infestation. He said he'd be here the next evening, and that I need to find out where the nest is for him before then. Next I called Fazia and asked her to relay a message to 'Bob' for me, and fed her the message. Then I had a realization. "Murph, those missing vagrants, where were they?"

"By Cabrini Green?" she answered. I relayed to 'Bob' that his search should start in Cabrini Green. Afterward I looked up at Murphy, still in her Gilda costume, looking very concerned and matronly at me.

"Murph, my dad is a scary man. He doesn't burn when he touches love like the rest of us do, and he can do a thing called a kiss of death, where he feeds on all your energy in the span of a second. He doesn't have magic, but he can control your actions with pheromones, and make you want to do things you might not normally want to do." I said frankly.

"Butt stuff." She said with a straight face.

"I'm serious."

"But I'm protected, right?" she wrung her hands.

"You were, until tonight. Not that the protection would have benefited you at all anyhow. I want to put a different protection on you now. This one will work but you might not be too pleased with the method." I explained. I held out my hands and she put hers inside of them. I rubbed them with my thumbs, eliciting goose flesh up her arms, and her breasts stiffened. Her breathing quickened but she took control of it then slowed it back down.

"Now you mean butt stuff." She tried to joke again.

I pulled her into my arms and slid my hands up and down her arms, stomach, breasts, neck, down the back of her neck, then down her stomach to between her legs. She let out a sigh of anticipation. "It's okay." I whispered into her neck behind her ear while pulling off her robe and nighty, running my hands over her body more. I breathed heavily into her ear while unzipping my pants.

"Why am I letting you do this? Why did I do that porno scene?" she asked me reluctantly.

"Richard. You still love him but he basically said you weren't good enough. It's not true by the way. You're better than enough. You proved it on the stage to yourself, but better yet, you prove it to everyone you save by doing your job." I whispered into her ear. "You're here…" I led her to my bed. "Now because you have needs, and I want to fill them." I whispered back into her neck, kissing it. "All that being filmed was hot wasn't it?" I turned her head so I could kiss her lips. It began a peck, then she parted her lips, then we kissed with open mouths, then again with a modest amount of tong. I waited for her to initiate the last kiss. So much passion and need boiled to the surface. She rolled her hips against my hardness and whimpered.

"Just put it in already." She whispered into my mouth.

"You." I countered.

"I can't." She whimpered. "If I do, I'll be just another conquest to you, like your other bunnies."

"Why, because you enjoy having sex? What's the point of sex if you can't enjoy it?" I asked. She looked so cute self-loathing in front of me. "Those girls are nothing but food. I'm doing this because you're my friend and I want to protect you." I picked her up and put her on my bed then crawled up her body to enter her. She made a grateful little sound. After a few more thrusts I leaned in and asked her if she was ready for all of it. I felt a small degree of fear and surprise, but mostly there was lust and humor. I laughed a wicked bedroom laugh and began to go deeper, at a faster pace. She tossed her head in a frantic protest then let out a musical howl of pleasure. After that, there was no more resistance a short while into it, her whole core and down clenched and her thighs spasm, then she became very wet. I stopped to take all my clothes off, then crawled onto her and pleased her some more, and more, and more.

I focused on maintaining eye contact, focusing on creating that connection with her. She cupped my face in both hands as I stared at her with primal silver eyes. When she climaxed again, I did too, holing her tight, breathing together. She made the dearest little sound of satisfaction before she passed out, thighs still twitching.

Chapter Three

The next morning I went to the set early and placed a sort of magic web down which would let me know when foul energy was being directed at us, and transfer it to me before it went after anyone else. Thomas, Arturo, Joan, and the actors arrived in that order, followed by Murphy, who was a bit disheveled because she woke up in clothes loaned to her by Justine in the spacious back seat of our family Rolls Royce. I wore black slacks and a red deep v neck shirt, but I refused to tuck anything in.

"I see Trixie must still be on west coast time." I jested to Joan.

"Please, even in California she never showed till after noon. If she did come on time, she would disappear in the middle of the day." Joan answered. Then it struck me.

"Were the other ex Genosas in California with you?"

"Its like a traveling circus." Joan answered nodding. I grabbed Murphy and dragged her back to the car and got in the back with her, pulling out the case files.

"What's going on?" Murphy asked. "You figure something out?"

"The murders were all at the same time." I said absent-mindedly.

"Uh, no. one was at noon, 950 am, 1010am, and another at 1145pm."

"No, they were all 10 min before noon and midnight, California time and Chicago time." I responded. "Coroners can be off by 10-15 minutes that's rarely a big deal, plus some methods can cause people to die at different rates." I rearranged the papers into a sensical order then showed her. "See, our stregas were in California for the noon and 1150 deaths, then they came to Chicago, two hours ahead, accounting for the 950 and 10 deaths. Then they attacked Giselle at noon, and you at midnight. It IS a spell book. That's how they're doing it. I had already ruled the exes out because they weren't magic."

"Okay, so anyone can do magic if its from a spell book?"

"It's like a vending machine; insert coin get a magic prize. They had to set up a ceremony and make a sacrifice, just like the shadow man." I explained.

"So how does one get one of these books?"

"A dealer. Back in the day wizards realized if a lot of people tapped into one source of magic it weakened it, so they began publishing magic books so once a lot of folks were summoning the same demon to regrow hair, lose weight, get good grades, or strike rich, there was no oomph left to destroy enemies, kill world leaders, or any of the hard stuff." I tried to explain. "But us vampires understand that a far less dangerous way of diminishing a demon's power is severing its link to our world completely. We tracked down most of these spell books and went Fahrenheit 451 on their asses."

"So what does that mean here?"

"This demon fueling the entropy curse might be one of the wizard published books, but with power like this, I'm thinking its more likely one of the books we thought we wiped off the face of the earth long ago." I answered. "That's really inconsequential as far as I can tell, I just know for sure, its all three exes working together, and using a book."

"I think its vitally consequential, Raith. Think about it. How did all three exes come together? How did they decide to hex the ex? How they got the book might answer both questions, in which case it leaves a forth party that also had a motive to kill the women around Genosa." Murphy explained.

"I'll bet you sex to money it's my father." I grumbled. "He knows Genosa is superstitious, because my mom use to be a healer for him. He must have planted the thought in Genosa that if he left Silverlight he would be cursed, and then he used his connections to bring three witches and a spell book together to make this studio another sequel to Final Destination." I explained.

"Crap its almost time." Murph said frightened.

"Okay, you stay a safe distance from me, with the ambulance on speed dial. When the spell hits, it will be redirected at me. When it hits me, ill be able to see where it came from but I might also die, if I don't react properly. I'll be doing about ten things at once so cut me some slack." I explained then we returned to the studio. Right on time, I felt it hit. I focused the tracing spell, using the Molochio as a link to who I sought out. I saw images of three women on a triangle inside a circle, surrounded by candles in a cave, but a plushy nice cave… something black with horns, concealed in green smoke began to form inside the triangle, then was released by the three women and I saw it bust a pipe. Joan screamed in surprise from the loud bursting noise. It was so far from me. I sighed in relief, walking over to see if I could fix it, but then a catwalk fell, swung by a support cable, and smacked me, throwing me into the busted pipe. Everyone screamed as some of my silver pink blood was sprayed by the pressure billowing out of the pipe. It went under my ribs, through my lung, but missed my heart. If I were human I would die in terrible agony in the span of a couple minutes.

Murphy got EMT's on the scene in no time, and firemen cut me and the pipe down then put us on the stretcher carefully. Thomas insisted on riding with me, Murphy got the car and followed us to the Hospital, and who knows what the others did. "Mr Raith, you idiot, you were almost found out. The surgeon wanted to do labs on your blood after he sewed you up and stopped to appreciate how not standard red it was." My doctor chided me after I got out of surgery.

"Guan-yin Xiao Ling, my favorite doctor. Your bedside manor is impeccable as always too." I grumbled.

"The sutures will dissolve at their own rate, you will most likely heal long before that anyway." She said in perfect English. She was actually my first rescue mission ever. I was partying in China when we met. She was forced to quit med school to work for her family, and when that wasn't enough she was sold into sex slavery. Her mother had an affair with a German soldier or something so she had all the best of both worlds in her features; light brown hair, green eyes, ivory skin, full breasts, and Asian bone structure. This made her very popular, but when she cried in my room that night I decided I was taking her away from all that and helping her pursue her dream. As an added bonus, she became Chicago's vampires' physician and helped conceal our abnormality. "I've already processed your release papers, sign." She shoved a clipboard into my hands then snatched it away once I signed them.

"Thank you doctor Ling." I said, then got up and got dressed. She looked at Murphy then Thomas and me then left.

"Still likes you." Thomas said.

"Of course, I'm her knight in shining armor, but I don't want her getting the wrong idea." I answered him. Murphy's phone rang and she quickly quietly answered it.

"Hello? Oh crap, I forgot. Im in the middle of an investigation, I cant. Yeah I have time to do a beer run for you bunch of lushes." She smiled. "I'll head over in a little bit, promise." She responded. "Love you too, bye." She looked up at me. "You okay?"

"Vamps heal fast, remember?"

"But you've never been impaled before, how was I supposed to know you would be fine?"

"More importantly, you have a beer run to do."

"No, I can't. I mean, the investigation…"

"Will have to wait until 11 tonight, and my source still hasn't found the black court hive. We have time to kill, lets get your family more beer."

"How'd you know?" she asked accusingly.

"Same date every year." I shrugged. "Everyone at the set okay?"

"Joan and Arturo stopped by while you were in surgery, Giselle is in the next room if you want to stop by." Thomas reported. I did, to hug everyone and show I was fine. Meanwhile Giselle was sedated, her neck was immobilized in a brace, and she had skin grafted on her shoulder and arm from the hot water burns. I was too angry; I needed to cool down before I killed somebody.

Chapter Four

Wolf Park was no longer a province of Illinois but won land by the massive forces of Clan Murphy. There were gazebos with grills and folding tables, mosquito tents, and bounce houses, all overpopulated with redheads and blonds of all the shades of ginger from the other end of the rainbow. I even spotted, I kid you not, a trio of old, impressively white-bearded, men in kilts of dark green, light green and gold with the slightest bit of red. A banner with three crossed spears scrolling the motto 'brave and hospitable' stood out the ground by the trio's mosquito tent. Some younger folks were chatting with them over some beer, no doubt learning about their heritage.

All eyes were on us as we passed by men in one gazebo watching Football on a generator powered projection screen, wider than I was tall. She showed me where to put the beer and liquor down then brought me to her mom. "Mom."

"You made it!" the older Murphy said gratefully, hugging her little girl.

"Mom, this is Ambrose Raith, a sort of friend of mine." She said. I kissed Mama Murphy's hand. "Raith, this is my mom, Marion."

"Such a pleasure to meet you. I was beginning to think Murphy was hatched from a cop egg and raised on the force." I jested.

"Me too. Karen, you look lovely!" Mama Murphy exclaimed. She really did. Justine didn't own anything that wasn't beautiful. Karen had a summery yellow tube dress that was an indecent three inches above Karen's knees (so a lot more on Justine) but down to the floor in the back. There were little baby's breath prints on the fabric, and she borrowed cowgirl boots and a brown leather belt that laced around brass lace hooks in front like a corset/hiking boot. Her wig was stylishly scrunched, then draped around her face like a sexy curtain, open just enough to show the good stuff.

"Thanks. It's not really me though…" considering I was just impaled I had changed into khaki slacks and a white button up. We looked almost coordinated that way. Karen led me into the first gazebo again and introduced her brothers. "These are my brothers; Jack and his wife Joanne. Their kids are Collin and Killian." She pointed out a man who could have been her twin save for his trunk like arms and neck and broken nose, with a brunet wife who had more tattoos than clothes to cover them and their dirty blond boys watching the game from their seat on the cooler. "Joseph and his wife Janine," she indicated her brother, who, aside from the tattoos was indiscernible from Jack. His wife had hair red enough to pass for the little mermaid, and wore a purple bikini to make you notice. She was damn near flat chested, and spattered with freckles and absent-mindedly slapped her plastic purple flip flop shoe against her foot while her legs were crossed. "Their son is Grayson, the redheaded boy down with the girls." Karen pointed at a nearby jumping castle were a boy the same age as the two on the cooler was chasing girls around.

"And this is Jim with girlfriend Jessica." I laughed. Triplets with with j names dating women with j names. Come on, you can't make this stuff up. Jim was lean, but still muscular. He was a negligible amount taller than the other two but had the exact same face. He was shirtless and boasted a full chest tattoo. He had an anchor like Popeye's on the inside of his left arm and the CPD shield over his heart. His girlfriend was in pretty good shape, looked average as hell, but fit. She wore a pink and white paisley bikini with a hooters shirt and cut off shorts over it.

Next she introduced me to her ex husband Rich. He had thick dark brown hair on his head and goatee, was a hair taller than Jim, and had a girl who also was nigh identical to Murphy in his lap. This girl was younger and two inches taller, but had shoulder length curly hair, and wore a tight bulls shirt over a bikini with the g-string of said bikini pulled up so it showed from in her cut off shorts when she bent over. She gave us a confused look then gave me a deliciously lusty vibe. "This is Rich, and my sister, Lisa." Murph said trying to be nice. "Everyone, this is Ambrose."

"Nice to meet you. Karen tells me your family prides it's self in their alcoholism. I happened to bring a full bar and tender, if anyone has any requests." I said. Some of the cousins still around the tv turned and cheered so Murph introduced them and mentioned where their offspring could be seen.

"How did a bull dyke sour bitch like my sister snag THE Ambrose Raith?" Lisa asked Rich Incredulously. Marion shushed her child.

"Wow… so I guess Karen got all the classy genes…" I said low enough that only, Jim and Karen, the two standing closest to me heard. They both snorted. "I was a murder suspect in one of her investigations but she figured out I was a good guy." I boasted to her. Karen had her back to me, and couldn't see my hand, but when I put it out there, her hand gravitated to it. Murph looked at her hand like it was an alien creature then took it back. I did it again then pulled her close.

"Good guy, my ass. You're a Mafioso and a Pimp." Rich accused.

"You don't know-" Karen defended me.

I brushed her cheek with mine and whispered. "Awe, don't worry, it doesn't bother me." Her eyes fluttered as I used my influence over her. Her breath faltered then she made a face at me. "Besides, you're all cops, from generations of cops. It's expected that you would all be suspicious. It's awful sweet of you to defend me though." I said in a normal voice. I got up to mix more drinks, then one of the cousins told me I made the best damn long island he'd ever tasted. "Thanks, I was a bartender to put myself through law school."

"You had to pay your own way?" Jack asked before sipping his strong hurricane.

"Well I was on a basketball scholarship, but I had to pay food, lodging, transportation, books… but bartending is a school too, so I had to pay for that somehow right?" when I got a nod I continued. "I was a male stripper to pay for that." I winked at her and Janine blushed.

"But you're a millionaire." Rich said slowly quite aware of the looks Lisa was giving me. I'm bad for marriages but when the relationship was founded by an act of infidelity, the marriage suffers unnecessarily anyhow. Poor Rich… Heh.

"Those esquire article vastly overstate my worth. When I finished high school my father cut me off and said now I'm a man, I must fend for myself, and that's when I started stripping." I passed another cousin Murphy his Long Island and bowed with flourish. "I wanted to be a detective like batman, but how seriously would you take me dressing in a cape and bat ears?" I said. The girls all laughed but some of the guys did too. "So I went to law school. Karen, the super sleuth she is, discovered my deep dark secret; that I was a normal guy. I myself have no money, its all my businesses. I blew a whole paycheck on this box of liquor too, so drink up." I finished telling them. They laughed, and I made more drinks.

My phone rang. This time it was my sister Felicia. "How's my least favorite sister?" I answered walking away again. "Of course I'm annoyed. I've already been called by all our other sisters, dad and Thomas are already in town, and now you call… something's up." I answered. "No someone is making a play for the throne, and I think they've set me up to take the fall. As the only member of the family not clamoring to earn my favor, I take it you were the one to frame me. Now dad thinks I want to be king, and he'll kill me, getting me out of YOUR way." I explained things to Felicia. "Yes, admittedly, I am the most likely to take the throne, but I have no desire to. You can rest easy." I explained to her. "Don't bother." I hung up.

But my phone rang again. I eyed it suspiciously then answered. It was 'Bob.' "Bob, It's been one of those days. Please tell me you found them." I answered. After his report I called the vampire slayer and told him "Buffy, meet me at the parking garage across from the homeless shelter in the Cabrini Green area in half an hour." I looked at everyone trying to not look like they were listening in, and then held out my hand. Without hesitation Karen laced her fingers into mine.

"Murph, it's go time. We found them." I warned her. I shook hands with the triplets, told everyone they better drink it all, pointing at the booze and getting cheers in response, hugged Marion, and then we headed to the slayer's rendezvous. When we got there a van full of red cross guys were parked up front. Karen flashed her badge and told them we tracked some domestic terrorists there, they may have hostages, just let us handle it, and have a long lunch. I passed them a $100, and then they walked off. A rental pulled into the garage while I brought in the red cross van. We changed into street clothes ideal for vamp hunting and armed up with shot guns, a cool sort of trident Kincaid invented for himself, and a paintball gun loaded with holy water and garlic. We put on red cross jackets and drove the van over. I introduced Karen to Kincaid on the way.

Kincaid suggested I stay in the van until he and Karen got everyone out. It took him about 40 seconds to bring out 4 humans then he beckoned me inside. There were 6 people just standing there swaying as if waiting in line at the bank. I opened my sight and the two closest to the door were fine so I indicated to Kincaid that he could take them outside. The next person in the corner closest to me was fine too, but the next person closest to me, a large man in his mid thirties it seemed, was horribly maimed in my sight. He lunged at me; I just had enough time to raise my arm into his path. But he could reach my face, with his face. He bit into my cheek from my eye to my cheek. I screamed in pain, but he was human, and I think I screamed that. Human versus me, I'd save the human.

My sight was still open when Karen put her boot in the Renfield's mouth. She was a fiery angel, in that same Greco-Roman style gown, now stained with blood and ichor. Tentacles of white smoke were burrowing into her temples, which represented the psychic whammy I put on her. She delivered another kick to his head and a large hideous demonic figure came and wrestled him away. Murphy handled the other two while I felt out any wards on the stairway, there were none. I closed my sight then we regrouped; Kincaid took point, then Murphy, then me. We followed the stairs down, far deeper than any normal basement. We were entering Undertown, or coming down to its level. I was glad to have release the sight. Undertown wasn't pretty.

We got to the bottom without incident, and Karen covered us while Kincaid and I checked out the cedar closet where the hostages were being held. When I gave him the clear for enchantments he opened it up and found an AP mine. I talked to the kids to calm them while Kincaid checked the mine out. We concluded that someone small would have to go under the infrared beams to disarm the mine. Murph gave me her shot gun and slipped out of her Kevlar then I could hear Kincaid talking her through. "Stop!" he said. I risked a peak at what they were doing; Murph was still halfway out of the closet. "Unclench."

"Unclench what?" Murph asked impatiently.

"Your ass! You're gonna trip the beam, you need another quarter inch. Relax."

"I am relaxed."

"Oh… damn, great ass." Kincaid said, "take your pants off."

"Excuse me?"

"Take off your pants to fit under the beam. Think of the children."

"I can't" Murph said after a pause.

"Right. Hold still, ill do it." Murph gasped. "I don't bite."

"Okay." Murphy replied in a small voice, trying to suppress her arousal. I'm a lust sucker remember? I can tell! I looked again. Ugh! I wanted to slug Kincaid. He began talking her through disarming the bomb while I felt something in the distance.

I threw two of my own chemical lights into the room and could sense and see the movement. I listened; 5 heartbeats belonging to humans, 4 belonging to dogs, and one figure without a heartbeat; Mavra. I gulped audibly but moved foreword, raising the shotgun "trouble. 5 Renfields, 4 dark hounds and Mavra's awake."

"Indeed." Mavra replied. "I've been watching you, Raith. I've admired you a long time; another vampire who can use the art at such a level. But I wonder… how you fare against your weapon of choice?" at that moment two Renfields stepped into the hall with flamethrowers. I barely had enough time to react. I fired the shotgun twice then tossed it behind me and tried to focus my shield far away from my body. As my shield was spattered with home made napalm, the flesh of my arm shrank and reddened and the pain became unbearable. I could barely keep conscious, never mind hold up a shield and focus a spell. Then I thought of the children huddled behind me, and the women who were cursed for just working on Arturo's set, my own blood manipulating each other like chess pawns, and that made me mad.

I called up wind that churned down the hall splattering the two Renfields with their own concoction, but the others seemed to see it coming. They ducked into the side compartments, escaping the initial blast, but the tanks spewed more napalm over the area, and my winds spattered the walls until the entire space was coated with streaks of flames. Two bursts of 3 round shots hit me in the chest, I raised my shield in time to stop the third, fourth and fifth, then the Renfields stopped shooting. I only hoped my body kept the first shots from reaching the others.

I gathered another gale force wind to slam into the remaining Renfields but was piled with dogs. "Kincaid! Get inside and arm the bomb!" a few seconds went by and I heard Murphy scream my name. I swung my fist and called the wind, tearing the dogs painfully from where they clung to my sleeves, pants and stomach. I ran, preparing my shield then slid through the door through the infrared beams and put up my shield.

The mine went off, and threw metal balls bouncing off my shield and hurdling down the hall. Once the smoke cleared, I broke the chain joining the cuffed hostages but Kincaid found the keys to the cuffs and uncuffed everyone. Murphy and I tried to calm the children while Kincaid left to ensure all the vamps were dead. I put my coat on Murph then she began to lead the children out while I went to help Kincaid. It's a good thing. As he walked down the hall toward me, I spotted a mangled female form. Kincaid saw my face and dropped and I shot Mavra with the paintball gun loaded with holy water balls, and it actually worked. Kincaid drew his spear and tore it through her neck, and lit her up with the incendiary round loaded inside it.

Once we got out to the red cross van, we loaded up the kids into it, and Kincaid got into the driver seat while Murphy helped me into the back. "My god, Raith, your arm!"

"It's fine, I was going to send it back to the kitchen anyway. I ordered it medium well." I answered.

"Why aren't you healing? You still have the bites from earlier."

"More importantly, pink panties with little white bows?"

"I won't hit you because you're injured, but once you recover…"

"Hey, it goes well with your Kevlar. Shows you're a woman with her priorities straight." She slugged me in the arm.

"His hunger is eating him. He will die if he does not feed." Kincaid said gravely before returning us to our car. Murphy looked at me with sympathetic eyes. I was in so much pain, but I shrugged and told Kincaid to take the kids to Mary of the angels church and give them to father Forthill. I asked Murph to drive me home to prepare for round two.

"Round 2?" Murphy asked. I fell asleep before I could answer.

Chapter Five

When I awoke I was sprawled in my bed. I heard Murphy talking in a hushed voice with somebody, and then the two of them entered the room. Guan-yin explained that she pulled out all the rounds she could, and the rest will likely be pushed out later anyhow. She showed me the bandages on my arm and suggested we amputate. I scoffed at her then drifted out of it a while. Murphy shook me awake then Guan-yin began to kiss and rub on me, then pulled Murphy to do so as well. After a little bit, I regained some strength and pulled more life force in.

Guan-yin and I made out while she fondled my manhood, and Murphy kissed my neck and ran her hot hands over my chest and stomach. Her face was wet from maybe crying earlier, but it was hot and flushed too. Guan-yin mounted me, so I was free to make out with Murphy. I regained the strength to move my arms and grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her over me. After a while, I was restored, and I told the girls they could stop. They didn't seem to want to. I told the Doctor to scram then sat on the edge of the bed.

Murphy and I formulated a plan to stop the entropy curse. But the whole while Murphy was kissing my neck and shoulders, feeding me more and more energy. I couldn't focus like this so I went to the bathroom, locking myself in until I got it all out of my system. As I walked with Murphy, us all fully dressed, outside to where she had her Harley parked, I felt the need to sum up the plan and reiterate it.

"Watch my back, don't start anything, and don't let anyone touch you."

"Wasn't planning on it." Just then a white sedan pulled into the driveway, fishtailed around, missing us and the bike by inches and parallel parked facing the other direction. Murph looked impressed. I swear she had a wild streak running all kinds of havoc in that innocent looking little blond cop facade. Then Lara came out of the drivers seat and strutted over to us.

"Nice look, big sis, very Carmen." She flashed me a smile then looked at Murphy.

"Ah, you brought your thrall." I winced then looked at Murph.

"And that means..." She said looking suspiciously at me.

"And an officer of the law! How clever of you, baby Bros." Lara curtsied. I was getting mad and I think Murph was too, but in general, she was angry about a lot of crap today.

"Inari, Elisa, Natalie." Lara summoned. Three inhumanly gorgeous women came out the car with pale skin gray eyes, and black hair in common. Natalie was nearly tall as me and very thin, as Russian women tended to be, Elisa looked like an early 40's pin up but tatted and pierced, and Inari looked like a flower child. Lara moved to the trunk and popped it open to tie on a red sash with a rapier. "Still Carmen?"

"Less Carmen, more Pirates of Penzance." Elisa commented.

"Gilbert and Sullivan, I may never forgive you that." She said to her sister.

"How will I find the will to go on?" she rolled her eyes.

"On the subject of going on- Thomas! They took him!" Inari shouted at us while we spared a moment to banter and accessorize. I looked at Lara. She nodded.

"The deeps." Lara whispered. "a natural cavern on our property."

"You sure?" I asked. "That's kind of obvious."

"Father has somewhat given up the games. Something is wrong with him, and I know you've noticed it too." She said darkly. I heard the front door of the house get kicked open, then thunder and I hit the ground. One of dad's bodyguards worked the pump of his shotgun, and I had enough time to stand again, but couldn't get to Murphy in time. Well I was in time to take shot number two to the back. Then I pulled Inari down. Murph had already gotten down and rolled into concealment. Lara slid over the hood of the car and was behind a nice sturdy engine block.

Murph swung out of her cover and took a knee. Our shooter fired a rush shot at her, missed her barely. It was cool; Murph had her vest and bike gear on. She took her time, unafraid, and I could feel her crystalline calm as she found where she wanted to be and cut the slack, paused to verify the target, then squeezed the trigger. Bodyguard ken whipped his head back with a neat new hole in his head where his left eye tear duct was and Murphy put another into his cheekbone and another into his eyebrow for good measure. I think she was going to fire again, but he fell to his knees then his face. The back of his head looked like one big exit wound. She ran and skid over to me then felt inside my coat.

"You healed already?"

"No, my coat is magically bulletproofed." I said, turning pale and maybe a little luminescent. My eyes reflected light like in those night nature shows.

"Do you need-"

"NO!" I said reflexively. "No, sorry. Even if I did, it shouldn't be from you. I might kill you."

"I thought you were dead. You said a shot to the heart would still kill you so-" she bit back emotion then looked at the guard. "Now there's a fatality on the scene."

"What fatality?" Lara said. Murphy looked at me with something like disgust, and I shrugged.

"How do you want to play it Murph? With a mountain of paperwork and therapy, or jut pretend there was no guard, shootout, or sketchy situation involving you in body armor in the middle of the night on some porn mogul's lawn."

She whimpered. She hated therapy and hated paperwork more, but she hated lies the most. Now the question was what did she want to lie about, how and why she was there or ever being there to begin with. "Damn it. What fatality? Now lets move before I have time to think about it." I got a wizard staff out the trunk of the Rolls and stuck it in the handy holster built into the hog. I rarely used the staff because it was cumbersome and looked outrageous.

"Acting without thinking is my specialty! Lara, wanna squeeze on the bike?"

Lara laughed, Murph gave me a dirty look. "I'll get there faster on my own. First, I must clean this mess."

Murph and I headed north till we found a white picket fence with a gate and while I opened the gate Murph spoke. "She'll turn on us."

"If we look like were loosing. So let's not loose. You cool with the vigilante thing?" I asked, standing where I could look into her face without her turning. She smiled sadly then nodded.

"Get on the bike bitch." She said. A little way down the road we got trapped in a game of chicken with a limo. I took my staff from its holster in her motorcycle and held it like a lance, and I was a jousting knight.

"Faster! Faster, mighty steed!" I bellowed manically. Murph gave me a look but revved the hog. It gained speed quickly while I channeled power into my staff.

"What are you doing?" Murph asked.

"Faster, don't turn!" I answered. She screamed and cut loose, and purple lights streaked around us in a corona.

"This is insane!" Murphy called out. The Harley continued to accelerate.

"Forza!" I called as the force flew ahead of us and plowed into the charging limo, flipping it over our heads. I watched them crash then relaxed against Murphy's back as she laughed into the wind. "What?"

"I think you were right about the vibrator thing." We came to the end of the road, where a small European cottage style mansion stood. No doubt the so-called grounds keeper 'cottage' then got off the bike. "I don't see any caves." She said. I led her toward them on foot. We got half way there when I felt Murphy's alarm and turned to see she was gone. When I turned back, he was there all in black, holding Murphy hostage.

"Drop your weapons, and your shield." My father said in his deep evil voice. Put your hands behind your back."

"No." Raith dug the knife into Murphy's ribs. The Kevlar took most of the blade but I was sure she was still in pain. "Okay, I was just trying to rebel a little. Making up for lost time before I kick it." Bodyguard Barbie came out of the shadows with shackles for my hands and feet then led me after Raith carrying Murph toward the smell of incents. "Killing me with the entropy curse at point blank range eh?"

"Silence!" Raith squeezed Murphy and a pained sound came out with an audible pop.

"It sucks, having no power any more, doesn't it?" Father stopped then turned to look at me. "You are somehow immune to death by magic, so when you murdered mom she had to get creative, didn't she? The way I figure, mom got ya where it hurts. Your ability to feed. No more enslaving women, no more kiss of death. And I bet I'm not the only one to notice."

"Insolent, just like your brother, and just like your mother!" Father sneered.

"So it was Thomas who figured it out… no doubt watching your control over Lara and Elisa fade." I explained. "They stayed loyal out of love, or some fucked up Stockholm syndrome disguised as it. I felt the last of your control over Elisa break when she visited me the other day. It'll cost you to kill us, you know. Even with a ritual."

"No matter. Tonight you and your brother will die, and the blood line curse your mother cast will be broken. I favored you. I thought you knew your place. But that meddling troublemaker turned you against me. Now you both will die." He looked at me intently, then a smirk, just like Thomas's mischievous smirk, just like mine, spread across his face. "And such a thoughtful boy. My youngest son had brought me my first snack. And a member of the local authorities at that."

We arrived in the Raith Deeps and as Raith carried Murph ahead of me, I couldn't bear the silence. "Murph? Hanging in there?"

"I'm feeling a bit repressed, and I'm about to go off!"

"Good. I enjoy defiant women. Alexander the Great once told me, it is more pleasurable to conquer than to rule. I feel inclined to agree. Defiant women can be taken, and taken, and taken before they break."

"How's your side?" I asked Murphy.

"A little prick like this? Its nothing." She sneered at Raith. He threw her into the wall, she tried to strike, he countered, then pinned her, knife to throat, his body between her legs.

"Warrior women. All you know is how to struggle against another's body. You all forget the needs of your own." He brushed his fingers down her forearm and she whimpered, fluttering her eyelashes. He smirked "I've taken thousands like you; Women fraught against their urges. You were made to feel desire, and I was made to exploit it." He brushed his lips over her throat as he spoke, and did something to Murph that made her try to kick off the wall then just arched futilely against him. She made a sort of crying noise and he laughed. "Now imagine what I'll be able to do to you once I've regained my power." She tried again to get out and away from him, but he found her struggles amusing. Then he jabbed his thumb into the wound in her side and she bucked from the pain. He threw her roughly to the ground then stood over her. "I can feel your desire. I can tell you're tired of being disciplined, of being the good girl. You want to live for yourself rather than serve others. A part of you wants to stay with me and feel the pleasure I just gave. A part of you wants the pain too." He grabbed her by the hair "admit it!"

"Go Fuck yourself!" she spat. I could feel her fear and a sick heat of need in equal parts. I could tell he was right, that she did want to be punished, and yet she really wanted to have another body with her, making her feel good. He pulled her behind him, using her hair as a lead then tossed her onto the ground once we got to the main chamber. It looked like well…

"Gotta say, Pops, I dig the décor; kind of like Casa Erotica's remake of Arabian Nights, complete with evil harem." Thomas was strewn over a sort of large-scale lemon juicer. Trixie was there, but in a sort of drug-induced stupor, no doubt on standby to be sacrificed too, while the other two exes sat ready to start the ceremony.

"Indeed. It will be gratifying to destroy the wizard that strikes fear in the hearts of so many of the red court, to restore one of my greatest mortal assets under my control, and be rid of my sons, once and for all." Raith grumbled as he brushed Ex Genosa 1's cheek. He turned his eyes to Murphy, and she shivered though she didn't look up. "And now, I'll have influence with the mortal authorities." He smiled.

Raith heard the sound of sirens but didn't react quite the way I would have expected. It was as if he knew even that was going to happen. "A wizard came to me not long ago and warned me of this day. He said he had witnessed you defeat me time and time again. He warned me not to leave you unattended this time. I gather this was how you wanted to distract me?" My eyes went wide. There was a wizard who could see the future giving my enemies winning lotto numbers? "But I will not fail this time. Madge, be a dear and begin the ceremony. Little police woman, come to me." Raith said triumphantly as he returned to his throne. Murph sat still where she was. I could tell she was calculating her next move. She got strangely unafraid and Raith felt it too. I had to run distraction and give Murph more time. When he stood I just started running at the mouth, not even sure I was being coherent.

"Leave her alone! So help me, when I get free of this, I'll kill you slowly." I threatened idly. "You haven't seen what I can do. What kind of man I am. I will kill you Father." I sneered.

"My sons: random consequence of desire and response, chemistry, and biology. There is no deeper meaning to relation. I've lived centuries and helped build an empire. I've crumbled civilizations, and now you, spittle of my seed into some mortal plaything thinks he can stand against me?"

"We value family, father. My brother, and sisters, and I. We believe in love."

"Of course they think that. I raised them that way. It is a simple and convenient way to control them. Love is poison to us. There is no love in any of our kind; it is an illusion. You think I care about any of you?"

"Not even Inari? So what's going to happen once the curse is done? You gonna rape Inari into a good little puppet, and what happens to Lara?" Raith just glared at me then I got an idea. Duh. Dear old dad was loosing his power, but I've always frightened the white counsel because I had too much power, as a wizard, and probably as a vampire too. I kept my mouth running but reached out with my senses. We were two supernaturally sexy men, in a cave full of mortal women. First was Trixie. Not my number one pick, Ex Genosa 2, then there was Ex Genosa 1. She would be hard, but Raith didn't enthrall her, from what I could tell. My senses told me that Barbie was a thrall somehow, so she would be most difficult.

"Must have been rough, living like that for so long. Never using your reserves, playing it careful." Trixie, in her drug-induced stupor had stopped the chant then crawled sensually over to Thomas and began unshackling his hands and feet. Raith was so focused on our conversation, he hardly noticed. But he did notice me making with the sexiness, and Murph was kind of… rolling around, enjoying the texture of the rug and silk pillows. So that's why sexy ladies are associated with cats, she looked like a cat on catnip.

"Shoot him in the leg." Raith ordered. Barbie didn't let him finish the sentence before my ears rang from the thunder of the weapon, and my leg lit up in pain. Then I felt it in my gut. The ceremony was coming to a close, and a dark familiar feeling came over me. I felt it once before when Justin DuMorne called it after me. And this was the energy behind the Molochio.

Madge pronounced every syllable a specific way as she called him by name, "He Who Walks Behind!" but as she drove the knife down, she had no Thomas to carve, instead she was in the circle with only Ex Genosa 2 and needed blood to complete the rite. She dutifully stabbed 2 in the chest, and from the blood, boiled the grotesque form of that monster that haunted my nightmares for so much of my teen and young adult years. With the circle broken, he was free to do as he pleases, and demons have an order to things. His first prerogative was to finish off the practitioner who called him, then he would rampage the cave, but the ceremony was to bring him to our realm for one unfortunate death, so because he was a creature of habit he turned his power on Ex Genosa 1. I had no reason to fear him, this time. So why was I still so afraid?

Madge writhed on the floor being torn apart from the inside, "HELLS HOLLY STARS AND SHIT BELLS!" I swore, trying to inch my chained ass away from the low purple fog around the ceremony circle. Thomas threw himself after Raith, and I heard a thumping sound like someone falling softly to the ground. Lara unlocked my chains and curtsied then drew her sword. Thomas was fast but Raith was faster, and the two were beautiful silver luminescent forms as they punched, and kicked one and other. Raith landed a kick in Thomas's gut, then another across his chin, and Thomas landed near the edge of the chasm. All my sisters gathered around our father, including Felicia.

"Girls, what are you doing here?" dad asked.

"Claiming what's ours, father." Felicia answered.

Raith sneered but soon he was as doped up as Trixie, by the looks of him. I felt a strong pull to my gathering sisters, and Thomas groaned. "Bros, we better get out of here." Lara helped him to his feet, and then began to undress. Thomas grabbed Trixie by the arm as I picked up Murphy, bridal carry, and we made way for the entrance. I turned for a moment to look at Madge, her face stretched over 'his' form. Thomas opted to grab Barbie as well, and hurry out.

"I remember thee, mortal." 'Madge' said. "I am returned, and we have unfinished business." But I didn't stick around to let anything happen. I got Murph out to her bike and she was still out of it for a while but soon everyone was fine and we hurried back to the mansion.

"It was you all along." I confronted Thomas. "You wanted to be king."

"I'm the lazy fuck up. The least threatening. You were the one who knew how to kiss ass, make money, and run stuff. When I made my move everyone just assumed it was you." Thomas explained.

"You want to be king?"

"Not particularly. I just wanted to dethrone Dad." He shrugged. The girls returned then addressed Thomas and me.

"Who will be King now that Father is dead?" Elisa asked.

"Obviously it should be Ambrose." Natalie suggested.

"No." I countered her annoyed. I was the second youngest for crying out loud!

"Lara." Thomas suggested. "She's practically our boss already. She's been like a mother to us."

"I agree." I said quickly.

"Yes!" Inari agreed. Felicia looked sour then smiled.

"Absolutely." Lara smiled then bowed and walked away, followed by the other sisters. I returned to my room where Murphy waited. She was cuddling with the puppy and my aloof cat that I rarely saw. The two of them could hide Murph completely.

"You softie." She snickered as I came in the room. I kicked the animals out of the bed then climbed into Murphy's arms. After a moment I looked down suspiciously at her stomach then put my head on it again. Yep, I felt a second energy there. "What?" Murphy asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Um… it's too soon to tell but…I think you're pregnant…" I warned her. She looked furious and punched my arm.

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